August 24, 2009
To: UT System-wide Faculty and Staff
From: Interim President Jan Simek
In the last five years, the president has traveled across the state for
a campus tour, and that tradition will continue this year.
The president's annual Campus Tour will begin in Memphis on Wednesday,
Sept. 2.
Over the next month, members of my staff and I will spend a day at each
campus. In addition, there will be a Nashville stop to meet with
employees based in Middle Tennessee, and I will visit with Institute for
Public Service employees while they are meeting in Norris.
During the visits, I will meet with campus administrators, faculty,
staff, students, public officials and community leaders.
In these tough economic times, it is important to reassure everyone that
the University is continuing to move forward and that improving our
quality remains the paramount goal.
All of higher education is going through a difficult period, but there
is light at the end of the tunnel.
There is no reason our goal to be one of the top institutions in the
United States has to suffer even as we brace for budget cuts.
We have two new features coinciding with this year's tour to help you
follow along.
I invite you to visit a new Web site with tour stop agendas, photos and
background information. Also, UTALK will be available on the Web site
for you to submit questions, and answers will be posted there. The Web
site is http://www.tennessee.edu/campustour/.
Second, I will post updates about the Campus Tour on Twitter starting
Sept. 1. My page is already set up, so you can go ahead and "follow" me
at http://twitter.com/utpresident.
I look forward to seeing many of you on the tour.
Here is the schedule for the Campus Tour:
